


thinking of a series of dreams

by neville



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Soft af, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, literally just fluff, thor is soft. bruce is soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24001873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neville/pseuds/neville
Summary: Bruce thinks that the universe must take pity on him.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Thor
Comments: 10
Kudos: 100





	thinking of a series of dreams

**Author's Note:**

> title from bob dylan's "series of dreams" and epigram from the paul valéry poem "le cimetière marin". i just needed some thorbruce softness 
> 
> not beta'd. also, everything i learned about the norns was from wikipedia, so i'm sorry if i used them wrong

_ The wind is rising!   
_ _ we must try to live _

Bruce thinks that the universe must take pity on him when he wakes up on a bed in the Statesman, Tony’s clothes still somehow clinging to his body even though they’re full of holes. The universe must take further pity on him still when he gets up and runs almost immediately into Thor, whose eyes light up at the sight of him, and before Bruce knows what’s happening he’s being enveloped in one of Thor’s big hugs. Before, he would’ve considered this a problem; but two years of Hulk has done a whole lot of things to him, and so he doesn’t think twice as he hugs Thor back, swaying gleefully in place with him for a moment. 

“It’s so good to see you,” Thor enthuses, keeping his hands on Bruce’s shoulders, warm and comforting. Bruce could’ve held Thor’s hand the entire time they were on Sakaar. “I thought you might never come back after what you said. I thought it was just going to be… well, the Big Guy.” 

“Fate’s looking out for me, I guess,” Bruce says, hoping that’ll appeal to Thor’s mythology (not that it’s  _ mythology _ , necessarily, but until Bruce finds a better word that’s what he’s calling it); and it seems to work, since Thor chuckles, and God,  _ God _ , Bruce could listen to that all day. 

“The Norns watch over you,” Thor agrees. “They’ve set you a good fate.” He smiles, his hands rising a little; at the same time, Bruce feels a flutter rising in his chest, a breeze of wind on a summer’s day. “A good fate for a good person. What you did for us on Asgard - I appreciate that. I was stupid to try and pressure you into being the Hulk, I realised, because I wasn’t  _ listening _ to you: and then you sacrificed yourself anyway. Thank you.” 

Bruce can feel himself blushing. “The Hulk says you stopped him from smashing the big monster,” he says with a smile he can’t help. He doesn’t just hate the Hulk in an unadulterated way: they’ve lived together too long for that kind of black and white thinking. They know how to share space. “Doesn’t sound very helpful.” 

Thor laughs. “I promise you, he was. And I’m sure you would’ve been too, if there had been more room, for…” He waves his hands. “Science.” 

Bruce laughs in tandem. He appreciates that Thor thinks about him, that he paid attention when Bruce was having a small meltdown in Tony’s clothes on a step in the middle of a scrap planet: most people don’t bother to think about Bruce at all, and he supposes he can’t criticise them. The truth is that he knows the Avengers would rather have the guy with the muscles than the guy with a brain who trips over stairs several times a day, and that knowledge deepens the pool of his insecurity. “I mean, science created Ultron, so who knows if it’s that useful,” he jokes. 

Thor looks deeply offended by this, and the flutter in Bruce’s chest rises a little higher. “No,” he insists. “I believe in you, Bruce. Even in creating something that was antagonistic, you created something  _ incredible _ \- Ultron had his own thoughts, his own consciousness; this is something we can’t even do here with magic. I can’t listen to you putting yourself down.” He smiles a little wryly. “That’s not what heroes do.” 

_ Hero _ . 

Bruce feels soft inside. 

And he’s a little high on the post-Hulk transformation, and with all of the love he has for the world he hasn’t seen in two years (even though it didn’t feel like he’d been gone for that long, everything seems brighter and more beautiful now, the world radiant instead of painted in its old greying hues), and he feels like he could do anything right now, coddled in warmth and reassurance and the feeling that he isn’t as useless as he thinks. So he lets all the words slip out that he used to have a handle on. 

“Thor,” he says, looking up, and is it appropriate to say that he thinks that eyepatch looks  _ good _ and that Thor looks like a king from a dream, “I don’t want to preface this with too much because I’m just going to ruin it by saying something stupid, but - I really wanna kiss you right now. And I really wanted to kiss you before. And I have for a really long time, but now it just feels…  _ right _ .” 

Thor looks at him for a level moment; and Bruce realises that he must be  _ completely _ high on life, because even in that moment he doesn’t start preparing for the worst. It doesn’t feel like the worst could even happen; not with Thor. He feels safe with Thor in a way that he doesn’t feel safe with anyone else, not even with Betty, years ago; he feels safe knowing that Thor can handle every part of him, and won’t break his boundaries, and deep down wants the best for him. Even when it doesn’t align with what would be most useful. 

Thor leans down and kisses him, and Bruce feels like he’s floating. He never expected Thor to kiss so soft. 

“You’re something else, Banner,” he says with a chuckle, and Bruce surges up to kiss him again, wrapping his arms up and around Thor. There’s something about Thor that Bruce can only describe as an electricity thrumming beneath his skin, a warm and crackling energy. He doesn’t want to stop kissing Thor. Bruce doesn’t want to let go. 

He doesn’t think he’s ever felt this happy. He didn’t think he even  _ could _ feel this happy; he used to think he wasn’t worth happiness like this, but here in Thor’s arms he feels worthy, safe; and, even in the middle of space, a place that should in theory terrify him, he feels like he’s home. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank u sm for reading :) give me a shout in the comments if u are also soft for thorbruce


End file.
